OZ Virtual was a 3D world viewer created by OZ Interactive that enabled real-time collaboration communications in shared spaces on the Internet with a strong focus on creative content production. The viewer supported the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (

VRML VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language, pronounced ''vermal'' or by its initials, originally—before 1995—known as the Virtual Reality Markup Language) is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional (3D) interactive vector graph ...

2.0) a standard for creating and experiencing

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

worlds on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

. It came with an

avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

editor that allowed the user to select from a set of pre-defined avatars with body movements and modify their appearance. Users could communicate using voice chat using low bandwidth

codecs A codec is a computer hardware or software component that encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. ''Codec'' is a portmanteau of coder/decoder. In electronic communications, an endec is a device that acts as both an encoder and a decoder o ...

supplied by Voxware. One of the features of this

browser was that anyone browsing a given

URL A uniform resource locator (URL), colloquially known as an address on the Web, is a reference to a resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identi ...

could see and interact with any other users visiting the same URL at the same time, thus making it an instantaneous shared virtual space.

Timeline

# The first version of the software was released in beta on July 24, 1996, with support for

1.0, avatars, and social interaction. # A subsequent release on December 11, 1996 added support for

2.0 including support for VRML 2 scripting using

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

. # OZ Virtual 2.0, released March 12, 1997, enabled editing of avatars, and embedding of various components of OZ Virtual onto web pages using

ActiveX ActiveX is a deprecated software framework created by Microsoft that adapts its earlier Component Object Model (COM) and Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) technologies for content downloaded from a network, particularly from the World Wide W ...

technology # The OZ Virtual technology was spun off from OZ Interactive into a separate company named SmartVR on November 24, 1999. The SmartVR team and tech stack then emerged into CCP to be the foundation for EVE Online. In 2018, there is still source code in EVE Online that originates from OZ Virtual.

Partnerships

* OZ Virtual was used to broadcast, in 3D using motion capture, a live concert co-hosted by

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

and OZ Interactive. * OZ Virtual 2.0 was used to create a 3D product showcase for

Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...

. * OZ Virtual 2.0 was also used to create a 3D world composed of

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

characters for

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

. *

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

used OZ Virtual to create a 3D site for its artists. * The Van Gogh Museum offered 3D renderings of some of Van Gogh's pictures which were created in OZ Virtual and made available on th
museum's website
The Van Gogh Museum goes virtual at www.vangoghmuseum.nl
/ref>

References

External links

is a comprehensive review of the OZ Virtual VRML browser

provides a brief history of OZ Interactive, makers of OZ Virtual
OZ Virtual: Promotional Video
is an archived version of an early promotional video for OZ Virtual
Collection of press releases for OZ Virtual
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oz Virtual Virtual reality Virtual world communities 3D graphics software Vector graphics markup languages 1996 software